Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Twelve Habits of Highly Successful Cats and Their Humans

Last Saturday’s posting announced a companion book to A Cat’s Life: Dulcy’s Story, which I’ve
been promoting on this blog since December 8 of last year. The first book gave
birth to the second. How? Through the wisdom of an editor.

Way
back in April 1991, this prospective editor for A Cat’s Life wrote me she’d be interested in the manuscript but only
if I deleted half of the 42,000 words. I did and Crown subsequently published Dulcy’s
first book in September 1992.

Drawing by
Judy J. King from A Cat’s Life: Dulcy’s
Story.

The
remaining words have languished on the computer since that time. I tried to
breathe life into them three times, but that same editor found them wanting.
Years passed and the editor left Crown before I finally hit upon an idea that
worked for me. However, it didn’t work for any editors or agents I queried.
None of them even asked to see the manuscript.

Ultimately,
I titled the manuscript Twelve Habits of
Highly Successful Cats and Their Humans by Dulcy and Dee Ready and decided
to publish through Wayman, a new press that offered publication. In her second
book, Dulcy suggests to fellow cats twelve habits that can make their lives
with humans and with one another the nirvana they longed for. Following each
habit is a short reflection I’ve written to show how Dulcy’s habit has
influenced my life. Twelve habits; twelve stories purred by Dulcy; twelve
reflections mulled by me.

Today,
I’d like to give you a sample of Dulcy’s writing and also of mine. She titles
her eighth habit “Accept the Inevitable.” To illustrate her contention that a
great gulf exists between the inevitable and the merely intolerable, she
inserted a poem detailing her response to my attempt to convert the two cats
with whom I lived to vegetarianism.

Dulcy
rebelled. Becoming a feline vegetarian was not inevitable, only intolerable. She
purred her disgruntlement in the following poem:

Where is my food?

My giblets with gravy?

My liver with sauce?

My tuna with oil?

My beef with its broth?

I won’t taste these pellets.

These are not good hors d’oeuvres—

not toothsome

not tasty

not luscious

not pleasing—

To one whose fine palate

Knows real haute cuisine.

So give me my food,

My gravy, my beef.

I won’t eat these nuggets.

I won’t stoop to bawl,

But give me delectables,

Or give nothing at all.

Dulcy incorporats this poem into her
text for the habit. I follow her text with my own. Here’s my take on Habit 8.

How can we recognize the inevitable
as opposed to the intolerable? Dulcy seems so sure of the difference. She saw
Bartleby and the love I felt for him as inevitable. But when I brought a third
cat into our household, she found this intolerable and disappeared into the
pantry for an entire year. Daily she crouched on a shelf there. She left it
only to go outside.

For one year she did not talk to me
or lie on my lap or lick my fingers. Her message was clear: “Living with Tybalt
is intolerable.” And so I gave him to a farmer who later called and said that
Tyb was a great mouser.

I have not always been so sure of the
difference between inevitable and intolerable. Twice I almost had a nervous
breakdown because I accepted as inevitable the conditions under which I was
living and working.

But when I let silence surround me
and listened to the stirrings of my heart, to the instinct I had for survival,
I realized that staying in these situations was not inevitable. The work was
merely intolerable. I could leave; I could change the furniture of my life.

What is inevitable? What must happen? Children growing up? Yes.
Our bodies slowing down? Yes. Aging? Yes. Death? Yes. Time takes its toll on
bodies. They break down, rust out, die. All that is inevitable. And perhaps one
other thing is inevitable—love, freely given, abounds in possibilities.

Love can have all the life-giving
force of a rain shower. It can help us grow and blossom into all we were meant
to be. It can help us flower. The result of a love that is given freely and
unconditionally is growth in the spirit.

That growth is inevitable. As the
poet Gerard Manley Hopkins says, “It will flame out, like shining from shook
foil.” Dulcy believes that the great god of cats calls us to fields of love.
That, too, is inevitable.

There you have it—a sample from
Dulcy’s companion book Twelve Habits of
Highly Successful Cats and Their Humans and a sample also of Dulcy’s wit with regard to her life experience and the philosophy flowing from my own.

Dear Elisa, thank you for reading the book. I'm glad you liked it. As to the children--I suspect they will like the stories Dulcy purrs, but I"m not sure they'll understand my reflections. So you might just skip those! Peace.

Dear Yvonne, coming from a woman whose entire blog is done in poetry, that's quite a compliment to Dulcy. Thank you. I'm sure you do miss the cat with whom you lived all those years. She truly had to be dependent on you. I've never lived with a cat who was diabetic. But twice I lived with cats failing from kidney failure and I had to hydrate them every other day. Peace.

Dear Dee, how wonderful your words are in prose and poetry, you fill the spaces on a page with so many good thoughts and lessons. I hope to be able to read this book sometime soon and I hope that you never stop writing and sharing.

We loved our cats, but, unfortunately, first our Jennifer, then I, developed nasty allergies and cats were to be part of our home no longer. A shower gift for Tom and I, 39 years ago this past Sunday, was a calico cat. We called her Zoe, which, in Greek, means life as we began our life together. She loved Greek olives and Ben Gay. Now, see, my wandering. I'm thinking of some posts to write. Life is grand!

Dear Penny, it's so good to be receiving your comments again. I'm sorry that you are allergic to cats. I have a good friend--up in Minnesota--who is also allergic and whenever she would come to my home for a meal or a visit, we both knew that two hours was the limit. By then, she'd be rubbing her eyes and sniffling. It's a bad allergy.

I so love the name "Zoe." And what a character she was--Greek olives and BenGay! I do hope to read more about her in your postings.

Dear Shelly, yes she was such a sage. I learned much from her. As to getting a book published you may want to read--if you have the time and inclination--the postings I did on Dulcy and her first book in December 2011 and early January 2012. Peace.

Dear Ed, I tend to believe that in some past life I was a cat. A past-life-regressionist once told me that I'd been a shaman in the Florida Everglades before the time of Columbus. She said that I'd walk from village to village healing and listening and that the native people thought I had the power to become a panther. She added that she didn't know that I could but that the people there thought that at the time. So. Maybe.

Dear DJan, thanks so much for downloading Dulcy's companion book. I'm glad you liked the excerpt. The sample from my part of the book was the smallest of all the reflections I wrote and so it could fit here. Peace.

Dear Friko, so good to hear from you. And please know that I wish you such good luck with your memoir. I am always fascinated by your stories--be they of the past or the present. When you finish writing, so many, many, many of us will read your book. Peace.

Hello Dee dear, animals surely show more love at times than humans do. It amazing how they can tell us things with a look and without a word. I wonder if your book is in Kindle?? I will look for it, I am sure it will warm the heart. Blessings friend.

Dear Crystal, it's true as you say that animals show more love at times than humans. I can remember Dulcy comforted me one day when I had hardly any money and got turned down for copyediting work. She stood on my lap and licked my face as I cried. She knew I was at a low ebb.

And yes the eBook is for Kindle. I do so hope you enjoy it if you get hold of it.

It is available in Kindle and I have bought it...Now to get the time to read it.

My last cat was called, Abraham..my daughter named him. The J.Witnessed's came to my door and were astounded when I called him inside.. "Do you know what that name means?" they asked."Yes, father of the nations and he surely is that." I laughed.. They didn't come back..And I bet they dusted their shoes.. LOL

Thank you, Dee. Cats are amazing creatures. And life is an amazing thing. Today I just happened to say something about the "furniture of our minds" (from a C.S. Lewis quote), and here you mention the furniture of your life. Very nice and interesting.

Dear EC, thank you for your kind words, but I do, so kindly, demur, as I indicated in my response to Melynda's comment (Craziness Abounds). I think of my mother as wise. I think of myself as muddling through. But in the midst of the muddle I have found my way again and again to contentment. Peace.

I am so delighted to know that this book is now available, and haven't you been been busy! Wonderful accomplishment, Dee. I will be placing my order soon, and simply want to add my congratulations to the long list of well-wishers! I'm sure you saw that Penny gave you a wonderful "write up" on her blog. I just love all the special connections! Debra

We had two cats, brother and sister that I rescued from the feed and seed store when they were tiny babies. Three years ago the sister died leaving the brother to search and search for her and then grieve. After a time, he became the friendliest cat and started a lasting relationship with our two dogs. He now rather fancies himself one of the boys with our dogs! He's getting to be an old man now, but has the most personality of any cat I've ever known!

Dear Nancy, I loved to met the brother cat with whom you live! When Bartleby died in 1981, Dulcy grieved--she speaks about this in both her books--but then she become even more loving to me. Thank you for reminding me of how this can happen. Peace.

Greetings Dee,I discovered your site via the superb article on "thecontemplativecat's" site. I noted in my comment on there regarding your good self that you embrace an ethos that I and my co-writer, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet star, wish to be an ideal.Our beloved animal friends display unconditional, non-judgemental love. Indeed, as you know, our animals friends can teach us many lessons. If only we would listen and learn.Also delighted that my friend Kim Thomas, who I made aware of your blog, via Facebook, has connected with you.Dulcy, such talent and what you both wrote, quite the um 'pawblishing' :)With respect and kind wishes, Gary. And pawsitive wishes, from Penny :)

About Me

Since childhood, I've wanted to be a published writer. That's happened for me, and now I long to be a published novelist. I don't know if that will ever happen. I can only trust that Oneness will bless my life.
What I've learned in a long life is that being published is simply the creamy frosting on the carrot cake. It's the craft of writing that gives me sustenance—it's both the layered cake and the lasting contentment.